About
From Wolverhampton to the West End. From ‘The Rat Pack’ to Emmerdale’s ‘Woolpack’. “It’s been quite a journey” laughs Richard Shelton with a twinkle in his blue eyes.
Born and bred in Wolverhampton, the son of a self-made builder’s merchant, Richard was asked when leaving school what he intended to do. “Go to Drama School”, but his no-nonsense father had other ideas. “No son of mine is going to Drama School”. It was a familiar story as earlier plans to sing, dance and act had been quashed. A real life Billy Elliot story!
To placate his father, Richard studied hotel management and resigned himself to a ‘temporary’ spell in hotels. It turned out to be a temporary 13 years but he has no regrets about the time spent in the business. He worked in numerous London hotels and had a 2-year stint in the Middle East where he also packed in acting, hosting a chat show and reading the news on the radio.
But Richard never forgot his earlier ambitions so in the evenings he helped set up London’s Bridewell Theatre in Fleet Street, which was formerly a disused swimming pool, and acted in their first shows. An agent spotted him and took him on telling him he didn’t have to return to his job on Monday.
At his first audition Richard secured a role in a UK tour of ‘A Murder Is Announced’ but when it finished, found himself unemployed for the first time in his life! It was a shock, especially having swapped the company Golf GTI for a bicycle. But after much perseverance and effort, roles started to come in and he got his West End break in ‘Scrooge The Musical’ as Young Ebenezer Scrooge. He took particular notice of Tony Newley who played Old Scrooge and who had been a crooner in his youth, another avenue Richard was keen to follow.
